When asked about an SEO strategy, today’s HubSpotter opted to share a cautionary tale, illustrating why SEO basics still matter even today.
His story is a reminder of how crucial it is to keep an eye on the technical SEO basics. Without it, you risk significant loss, as we did—losing 41% of our targeted organic traffic.
Understanding the SEO Basics Oops
Let me share “The Tell-Tale Tag” with you all. It began with a concerning call from our senior technical SEO strategist, Sylvain Charbit. Sylvain has been in the SEO content field for over 15 years, yet a sudden 82% drop in daily organic traffic rattled even him.
“We found out in the most ordinary way,” Sylvain chuckles, “conversion and traffic suddenly took a nosedive.”
July 25th marked the drop, noted initially by our conversion optimization team, who quickly informed SEO. A new conversion optimization test coincided with this drop, but there was no reason this minor content change should have devastated those pages.
The SEO team initiated a technical check. Sylvain discovered the primary issue: duplicate canonical tags. This issue created conflicting instructions for crawl bots, causing significant damage.
If you’re rusty on SEO, canonical tags help search engines identify the primary version of a page when multiple versions exist. Our test had two-page versions, where each referenced the other—like the Spider-Man meme, pointing at its counterpart.
The result? Instant removal of all test URLs from search results. Google, sensing irregularities, opted to drop the URLs entirely.
Sylvain noted, “Even for trusted brands, overlooking basic SEO practices can make individual pages look unreliable.”
Lessons from Our SEO Oops
So, how did our content test affect our HTML code? The rogue tags appeared with the activation of an outdated third-party A/B testing tool. Once we identified the issue and addressed the tags, our pages returned to their positions after several days, but not before incurring a 41% traffic loss.
Since search bots visit large sites like ours often, our recovery was rapid. Smaller brands may face longer recovery times, emphasizing the importance of proper technical SEO practices.
As Sylvain advises, “Let’s not wait for issues to arise. Regular checks are essential.” Here are three practical lessons:
1. Prioritize QA and Software Integrations
Before launching any test, ensure comprehensive quality assurance, involving both your SEO and conversion teams.
2. Conduct Regular Technical Audits
SEO isn’t a one-time task. Regularly review sample pages for basic SEO standards, ensuring continuous compliance.
3. Consider an SEO Auditing Tool
Tools like Content King can monitor your site, reporting any irregularities, ensuring continuous alignment with best practices. Or, for HubSpot users, manually check your canonical tags:
How to Verify Canonical Tags in HubSpot
Here’s how you can check canonical tags in HubSpot:
1. Navigate to Content followed by Website Pages, Landing Pages, or Blog.
2. Hover over the page and click Edit.
3. In the editor, go to Settings > Advanced.
4. Check the “Customize Canonical URL” field. If blank, the canonical tag aligns with the original page.
Conducting these regular audits will keep your SEO strategy strong and effective, proving once again that SEO basics still matter.
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